Pranavananda

Swami Pranavananda

Acharya Pranavananda , also Yugacharya Srimat Swami Pranavananda Ji Maharaj (born January 19, 1896 , the 16th Magha 1302 , in Bajitpur , Bengal Provincein the Empire of India , today District Dakka , today Bangladesh , † January 8, 1941 in Calcutta ) was a Hindu Swami and founder of the Hindu organization Bharat Sevashram Sangha .

Life

Pranavananda was already noticed in the village school because of his contemplative nature and his efforts to help other people. In 1913 he went to Gorakhpur in what is now the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh , where he was soon introduced to the spirituality of Hinduism. In the following years he founded a mission which both provided social help to those in need and spread the ideas of traditional Hinduism.

On the day of the full moon in the month of Magha of the Hindu calendar of 1917, Pranavananda Bharat founded Sevashram Sangha , which among other things had the goal of building a strengthened India. Numerous centers for micro-industry (cottage industries), convent schools, elementary schools and health centers in both urban and rural areas of India have served this goal and continue to do so today (2012). The organization's stations were also established abroad. However, members of the organization mainly operate in India, where they stand out for their saffron-colored clothing and Indian turbans. In cases of natural disasters, famines and epidemics, members of the organization are also active, for example, if necessary, in regulating chaotic traffic situations. The organization also operates non-profit clinics, hospitals and boarding houses and helps people there regardless of religion, caste or class.

Pranavananda traveled to many areas of India and made a pilgrimage to Kailash in Tibet . He sympathized with the Indian freedom movement of the 1920s and 1930s. His teachings have been codified under the title Sangha Geeta . Among other things, rules for achieving self-realization are drawn up there and ideals such as willingness to make sacrifices, self-control, love of truth and restraint are highlighted, and characteristics such as laziness, sleepiness or lust are denounced.

After his death in Calcutta, Pranavananda was brought back to his native city and laid to rest there in his already completed mausoleum.

Trivia

In March 2012 the Indian Railways inaugurated a stop in Garia , Kolkata , the Pranavananda Halt , as a transfer station to the Kavi Subhash station of the Kolkata Metropolitan Railway , which can be reached through an underpass.

Publications

• Exploration in Tibet with a foreword by SP Chatterjee , University of Calcutta , Calcutta 1939.
  • in Hindi : Kailāsa-mānasarovara , 1943? and English: League, Calcutta 1949.
• The Prophet of the Age . Bharat Sevashram Sangha, Calcutta undated.
• The Sangha-Geeta . Bharat Savashram Sangha, Calcutta 1967.
• Śribhagavadgita , 1973.
• Treatise on Sricakra . Sri Svami Pranavananda Trust, Yenugula Mahal, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh , India 1992.

literature

• Ninian Smart , Swami Purnananda: Prophet of a New Hindu Age. The Life and Times of Acharya Pranavananda . George Allen & Unwin, London / Boston / Sydney 1985, ISBN 0-04-922032-2 .

Web links

• Website of the organization Bharat Sevashram Sangha